A Crescent Garden waiting to be saved

pmwas

Registered User
Dec 12, 2010
2,335
1,952
113
Sosnowiec, Poland
Country
Region
A fresh buy from Bytom antique fair.
Having many watches in my collection I hardly find anything cheap attractive anymore, and what I do find attractive is… too expensive for me.
What caught my eye was a single sunk dial - unsigned, but promising.
And soon for an equivalent of 45 dollars I got myself a Waltham.

Non working, but not bad overall condition and looked promising.

I disassembled it right away, to see if there’s some life left in it…

5D9CD3A9-938C-4BA9-B0F6-176E41184677.jpeg


Dirty, and I mean really dirty, but the parts turned out to be undamaged.

69410B9E-9B2F-4FE6-BB82-75F2FFD0816B.jpeg


Barrel cleaned and lubricated…

839359CA-C4BA-416E-B21E-BC502CB73ED0.jpeg


I put the parts on the pillar plate…

ADD9D7FD-B3BD-43D6-ACD9-5085F5A6612F.jpeg


…and step by step assembled the movement.

21E571E9-7F53-4AF9-BB41-9B11CCB7ABAD.jpeg


Notice there is a click spring on the other side, so one has to make sure it’s properly alligned with the click…

856F47CE-6B0F-4135-ABBE-6833D987A667.jpeg


The ratchet wheel in place…

724E80DA-1EB1-480F-9FA7-61D5DA50F93F.jpeg


…and secured.
The watch is wound from the back, so I had to assemble the center arbor and cannon pinion.

24A828BF-1989-4A12-B6A9-BEC2DEF1FAE1.jpeg


60138E39-48A1-437D-8C02-49A66CA716DF.jpeg


In a keywinder like this, there is not much going on under the dial…

2761B23D-FBF3-4EA5-8038-3A24CD586FBE.jpeg


Pallet fork installed, and now the balance.

E9F9B047-96D9-47B7-89C0-0615525A21D4.jpeg


Looks like a gold balance wheel and so says the database…

F506E542-CC40-4393-96F4-185195E1FC9C.jpeg


Obviously a single roller…

C5C7BEEA-E63B-4BE0-BE75-747967CA23A0.jpeg


Runs…

4A545B78-B8FB-4D09-9EE2-86247C570B65.jpeg


Now it’s just a pin-foot dial…
And casing :)

C4866514-6E8B-4AE0-B76F-AAAAA478588D.jpeg


The watch has it’s original sterling silver case…

DE12D679-C997-408A-A482-E902B93B7A98.jpeg


…in not bad condition :)

783134B2-59B1-4827-942B-C0BAA5D15369.jpeg


Usually the finish is worn off much more…

A62ECB1E-14D5-438D-816A-3966DCD06D4E.jpeg


The bow needs some straightening, but otherwise it’s very nice.
Works nicely and it’s quite well preserved for an almost 150 year old piece.
In fact - a good deal for it’s low price, and a nice watch anyway! 783134B2-59B1-4827-942B-C0BAA5D15369.jpeg
 

Rick Hufnagel

Just Rick!
NAWCC Member
Oct 25, 2018
3,140
5,507
113
38
Pittsburgh pa
Country
Region
What a great find! That must have been an exciting day. Thanks for sharing.

This one is 796106 and has a very similar case numbered QQ179

20230204_132705-COLLAGE.jpg

I guess American Watch Co was shipping them overseas already cased up before Dennison set up shop? Interesting. Dennison started his case making in 1876. The watch I show is from 1875 and yours is from early 1876. Pretty neat.
 
Know Your NAWCC Forums Rules!
RULES & GUIDELINES

Support the NAWCC

Forum Expense plus NAWCC
Goal
$1,000.00
Received
$360.00
36%
Host server
$250.00
Software support
$250.00
NAWCC operations
$500.00
Expenses

Forum statistics

Threads
181,330
Messages
1,582,210
Members
54,774
Latest member
Jim Lampros
Encyclopedia Pages
918
Total wiki contributions
3,126
Last edit
Hamilton Grade No. 947 Reported Examples by Kent
Top